After All This Time
by DxniDxrling
Summary: Three years after the war, Hermione Granger is seeking a job, only to find herself under the employment of Draco Malfoy. She worries what this job will have in store for her. She can only hope that it won't be so bad.
1. Chapter 1

Rating: MA, for future reference. Warnings may include fluff, violent sex, and many more. Warnings will be listed at the beginning of each chapter.  
I do not claim any rights to the Wizarding World or to any of the characters involved. All rights are reserved to JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.

 **Chapter One:**

About three years had passed since the war. Three years since that very fateful ending in which Harry Potter, the chosen one, defeated the wizarding world's greatest enemy. For the last three years, Hermione Granger had been doing mostly just volunteer work. She couldn't bring herself to get back into the grind of things. She, like so many others, was traumatized. She eventually rationalized with herself that she needed to get back to work to overcome this terrible depressed state. She couldn't expect recovery without trying to move on.

So she went into the Ministry of Magic to find a job. Given her role in the war, her outstanding education, and Dumbledor's coining of her being the brightest witch of her age, she got a job almost immediately. They placed her in a fairly high position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE). They told her to begin on Monday morning, promptly at nine. Satisfied with the success of her new job, she left the Ministry to find a cafe of sorts. She was hungry and decided she could go for some coffee.

She found a nice little cafe nuzzled up between shops in Diagon Alley, ordered a coffee, a soup, and a sandwich, and whisked off to some corner to read a bit and eat. She was enjoying her meal when a flash of something bright passed by her. She froze for a moment, mid sip, and took a moment to listen to her heartbeat. She gathered some courage and finally looked up to meet the back of the very head she had been worried about seeing. He had grown a few inches and filled out since the last time she saw him. He had obviously been keeping in shape. His hair was still as white blond as ever, and slicked back. Not with heavy hair gel either, not like in their first two years of schooling. No, this was clean, this was professional. He had a few loose strands in his eyes that seemed to be there on purpose. He smiled at the barista and it was a real smile. He looked happy.

Much to Hermione's horror, he seated himself away by merely two tables. He sat alone with a few documents in front of him, probably work related. She wondered what he had gotten into. She recalled he was remarkably talented with potions – the thought made her chuckle a bit. What's the worst that could happen in saying hello to him? After all, after the war ended, they were on the same side. He was only a kid then, a misled kid who looked all grown up now.

She cleared her throat a bit, quite obviously. He looked up and around him in the wrong direction, before returning to his papers. Her heart gave a little jolt before she decided to move across from him at the small table he had chosen. Having finished her meal, she moved with only her coffee. Pulling out the chair with a slightly shaky hand, she sat down. Curiously, his eyes moved slowly up. When his silver eyes met with the tips of her hair, now more tame but still identifiable from a mile away, he froze for a second. She couldn't blame him; she knew exactly what he felt like from only moments ago.

After a minute or two, Draco finally met Hermione's amber eyes. She offered him an amused smile that lit up her features. Still in shock, he could barely muster a weak smile before stammering out a hello. She giggled, her cheeks pushing her smile into her eyes. "Hello," she said back, her voice much older now. When he happened to recall her before, her voice always sounded shrill and accusing, probably screaming at him for being an utter dick. But now, it was calm, even – it was happy. She sounded happy.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, still recovering from the shock of seeing her after three years. Her smile broadened and she said, "I just got a job with the Ministry." His interest was piqued.

"I was wondering why I didn't see you around. I figured you would be out in the field with Potter and Weasley," Draco stated, cocking his head to the left. It was true, she has thought about becoming an Auror alongside them. They practically begged her to come along, but she just wasn't interested in the job. She told him this.

"So if not capturing bad guys, what are you off doing?" he asked.

"The second best thing. Law enforcement," she answered simply. She would work alongside her two best friends, just not out in the field. She worked in the subdivision of the Investigation Department.

Draco could feel his heart stop momentarily, wondering if the position of Mary had been filled by the very former-Gryffindor before him. "Which department?" he asked. She answered him and his heart skipped a beat.

"Granger, I'm the head of that department," he chuckled lightly. Her face paled before him, her milky white skin draining of most of its color. After a moment, her neck jolted, her pulse quickening. That was something she had ever considered. "Well, that's absolutely wild," she said breathily.

"Relax, I'm not going to use this against you... yet," he added with his trademark smirk. Though in the past that smirk had made anger flare within her, it made her tensed shoulders ease and her face crack into a smile. "I must say, Mister Malfoy, that is a comforting thought," she teased, crossing her legs and leaning back in her chair a bit.

She sighed, taking the last sip of her coffee and gathering her beige trench coat. She threw it over her shoulders and released her hair from under the material. She offered him a final smile and said, "See you Monday morning." She threw in a wink for good measure and turned to walk away from him. She left the cafe with worry beginning to slosh around in her stomach. Would this end well for her?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: There are no particular warnings this chapter heeds.

Chapter Two:

All morning, Hermione Granger found herself pacing. She moved from room to room, glancing in every mirror around her flat to check her appearance. She was absolutely certain that her boss, Draco Malfoy, would accept nothing but the absolute best from not only his employee's work, but also their comportment. She'd decided on a black blazer and pencil shirt, as well as a baby blue button up dress shirt. Her make up was light and her hair was down and tamed.

Finally, the time to leave rolled around, and she couldn't avoid it any longer, unless she wanted to be late. Which she would never have, thank you very much. She gathered her belongings and headed to her fireplace to use the Floo Network. Her pulse quickened as the green flames engulfed her, her palms beginning to sweat. She had no time to panic, however, as her body was vacuumed through to the Ministry of Magic and she had to walk forward and make her way to her new office.

Stepping onto the elevator, she was propelled upward and backward until she jolted to a stop at level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Taking her final deep breath, she walked through the doors to her subdivision's office, only to be met with the sight of her fear himself, checking his watch. "Promptly at nine," he stated, a smirk forming. "Not a second early, not a second late. Amazing."

Hermione couldn't help it, she smiled. "Where do I begin?" She asked him, looking around at the lofty office. There were many people, all who seemed to be on phones, doing paperwork, or studying charts. It was a rather busy place.

"First, a tour," Draco said, turning on his heels to show her around. She followed close behind him. "This is the Investigation Department, a subdivision of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Here, we track down criminals who commit injustices against our laws. These breeches of the law can be minor, like a stolen lollipop, or they can be major, like robbery at wand point. Some cases may be fatal. Whatever the crime is, we send out our best men for the job. They take care of the dirty work while we stay behind and organize it from here. So far, with my help along side everyone else, we've caught and captured seventeen previous Death Eaters, all given proper penalties for their crimes against the Wizarding World." She wanted to ask what he had given for his own crimes. He wasn't exactly innocent in the outcome of the war.

She let that thought go; people changed once Voldemort was gone, and he was not an exception. Sure, many of those people were under the Imperius Curse, but what Draco had suffered was far worse. At any moment in which his loyalty faltered, he or someone he loved would lose a life at the flick of a wand – simple as that. Hermione realized that it was wrong of her to think of him as guilty.

At the end of their tour, which took a while as the office was considerably large, Draco showed her to a pair of dark, wooden, lacquered doors. "A bit of a surprise..." he smirked, opening them up. Behind them was another office, this one just as busy as the last one, but with far less desks. In this room, people with scars, missing legs, frowns, and glares all bustled about, talking loudly and all together. She did recognize a few people from school, and a few older faces from three years ago, but the most exciting part about the whole room was –

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione called, a wide smile brightening up her face. The two heads of black and red hair turned to the voice with confused looks, which turned to joy in a matter of seconds.

"Hermione!" they shouted simultaneously. They outstretched their arms to welcome her in a hug. They bombarded her with questions, wondering how she was, why she was here, where she had been. Admittedly, she fell off the radar just to take some time to herself, keeping minimal contact with just about everyone during that time so she could sort herself out. She read plenty and kept up with news, and even managed to take up cooking as a pastime.

One thing that was subtle but noticeable was the way Ron looked at Hermione. It made her slightly uncomfortable. Yes, they had dated for their final year and slightly after, but Hermione wasn't in the right mind to be dating after everything that happened. Especially Ron, dealing with the loss of his brother. But the look in his eyes gave her the feeling he hoped things would improve in their relationship, and she hoped it was her paranoia. She had lost feelings for him, sad as it sounded. Three years of separation and being on your own can change the way you view relationships. Personally, she wanted to wait a while before delving into a relationship of any kind.

She kept her chat as brief as possible, wanting to move along and get to work. She obviously still cared about her friends and she was excited to see them, but she was also excited about starting her new job and focusing on something other than her past.

She returned to her boss, who was casually leaning against a door frame waiting for her. He gave Harry and Ron a polite nod before returning to his office and closing the large doors behind the two of them. Weaving their way through the busy office, they moved to another set of doors. These were proportionally smaller, while still being grand and large. "This is my office," he told her, opening the doors a little dramatically. They revealed a shiny black office which was brightly lit despite all the black floors and furniture. The walls were an emerald green – he was still a Slytherin at heart. There were marble columns placed periodically around the office – which was circular. It was also notably immaculate. There was a warm fireplace near his desk which emitted green flames.

"Very similar to the Slytherin common room," she said, looking around and admiring the glimmer everything seemed to have.

"And how would you know about that?" he asked, a teasing tone to his voice.

She shot him an annoyed look. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

He chuckled, crossing his arms. "Well, you're right. I styled it that way because I miss my Hogwarts days. Everything was simpler."

She took in what he said and took a deep breath in, letting out slowly and nodding carefully. "So, where will by office be?"

He gave her a soft smile and pointed to the smaller desk over in the corner. Her eyes widened and she looked at him bewildered. "Seriously?" she spluttered out. He nodded.

"You'll be my second in command, basically. Almost like a secretary but with far more power, duty, and salary. I need help keeping up with the immense amount of crime we face, though numbers have dropped drastically. Your job is to help me run things. Knowing you and what you've done in the past, I have no doubts that you'll be perfect for this position."

Stunned, Hermione grasped desperately for words, coming up with nothing. Instead, she just removed her trench coat and placed it on the back of the cushioned seat behind her desk. She took a seat and looked at all the papers surrounding her, trying not to freak out. This was the last thing she could've anticipated.

A/N: So sorry for the wait, I had to suffer through finals. Hopefully I can find more time to write this, I am enjoying writing it and coming up with ideas as I go along. Let me know how you like it!


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